Mexico Travel Guide

Mexico is vibrant, colourful and unique. Its varied terrain
ranges from cactus-studded deserts to white sandy beaches and blue
waters, tropical rainforest and jungle-clad hills to steep rocky
canyons and narrow gorges, and from snow-capped volcano peaks to
huge, bustling cities. The extraordinary history of the country is
visible in the ancient Mayan temples strewn across the jungles, the
ruins of Aztec civilisations, rural indigenous villages, Spanish
colonial cities, silver mining towns, and traditional Mexican
ports.

Since the height of the Mayan and Aztec civilisations, Mexico
has suffered the destructive force of the Conquistadors, European
colonial rule, civil and territorial wars, rebellions,
dictatorships, recessions and earthquakes. Despite all this,
Mexico's people are warm and friendly, much of the countryside
remains unspoilt by development, and its cities have a unique blend
of architecture. Mexican Buildings display a striking combination
of colonial and pagan architecture, blending together Art Nouveau,
Baroque, Art Deco and Native American design in churches and public
structures. The country's culture is a similar blend of the
traditional and modern, where pagan meets Christian in a series of
festivals, or fiestas, throughout the year.

Mexico also has several hundred miles of coastline extending
down through both the Pacific and the Caribbean, home to numerous
extremely popular beach resorts. Resort cities such as Acapulco,
Cancun and those of the Baja California peninsula are vacation
havens. The countryside enclosing these summer retreats is also
rich in archaeological treasures with pyramids, ruins of ancient
cities and great stone carvings of ancient gods standing as
testament to a country once ruled by the Aztecs and Mayans.

Violence linked to the drug cartels is widespread but seldom
aimed at tourists. Despite recent reports of drug wars and safety
issues, Mexico remains a hugely popular and predominantly safe
tourist destination.